Provides a detailed description and discussion of the special-purpose computer for the information retrieval field developed at the Laboratory for Electromodelling of the Academy of Science, U.S.S.R.

Developed by a leading Soviet computer designer in mechanized information retrieval, the design criteria presented are based on the Soviet Union's policy of centralization and therefore are of particular interest to Western research workers at a time when major decisions are being reached with regard to appropriate balances between centralized and decentralized information retrieval activities (from the jacket flap)

The special-purpose computer hardware described is expressed in terms that computer specialists can understand from a review of what is technologically feasible.